Mistakes Anyone? Whatever you call them—mistakes, oversights, errors in judgment or just your plain old oopsies we’ve all pulled our share of slip-ups or miscalculations when designing something.
The problem with mistakes in graphic design is that they tend to multiply exponentially.
For instance: the client has an idea but has a design mistake. The designer includes the ill conceived mistake into the design, and the art director or editor approves it-for all to see.
In part three of Graphic Design: The Humorous Side of Things we’ll see that the little mistake gremlins can have pretty funny results—unintentionally of course.
Enjoy and learn from the mistakes of others.
Remedial Math Needed What better way to celebrate a milestone of an organization then to proudly display the dates of its inception and the date of celebration?
In this case, the magazine design layout presents a rather funny and embarrassing result.
…………………………….. It’s apparent that the graphic designer wasn’t trying to show a math problem but unfortunately underscored the dates in a way that the graphic looks like a subtraction problem; ergo 1992 subtracted from 2007 does not equal 25 years.
The humor is especially strong because the magazine article is about education. Oh, well.
Moral of this ad: Double check your design layout before you approve it. . Really? As you’ll see, graphic design (or a lack thereof) is important on the Internet as well.
…………….. It’s hard to not smile and chuckle a little because the advertisement is about good website design and presenting a professional image. Now, if we could just get over the beach balls and loud set design in this video, we might even believe the spokesperson’s message. ;D
Moral of this ad: Video isn’t exempt from graphic design principles.
When Graphic Designers Have Too Much Free Time What do graphic designers do when they have a little free time on their hands? In this video they do wonderful things in their spare time. . ………………
Sometimes creativity can soar when the pressure is off of you. These examples aren’t mistakes but are great examples of what your creative juices can do if you let them run wild.
Moral of this video: Take a break for fun.
Graphic Design School and You While mistake gremlins always try to sneak into your designs you can prepare and prevent them by getting the proper training at the graphic design college of your choice.
You’ll learn techniques and principles of design, art and layout to give you the best chance of designing pieces that can help you in your career. Keep your mistakes down to a minimum by paying attention to the details and obtaining a proper design education at a qualified graphic design school.
Next Time… We hope you’ve enjoyed this series. We’ll be back next time with some more articles on graphic design and how you can keep up with design trends.
Graphic Design vs Opinion Have you ever had your designs rejected even though you knew deep down inside that your piece was exactly what your client needed?
Or perhaps your design was good but was turned down because the client (or the assistant) felt troubled because it was “too small,” “lacked enough bright colors” or even worse, “It reminds me of another ad we did…” . . The adage that too many cooks spoil the broth can come true when you are dealing with certain clients; everyone, including the office secretary, has an opinion on your design.
Funny or Tragic? As a professional graphic designer you do your best in trying to meet the needs of your clients. But sometimes it seems that they don’t understand your concepts or your talent. Have you ever felt like doing this? . ………………
This movie scene is from the tense confrontation between Tom Cruise’s character and Jack Nicholson’s character in the movie, A Few Good Men. Of course the dialogue between the two is cleverly overdubbed.
In this instance Nicholson plays the role of a graphic designer fighting for his creative license by dressing down a junior designer. Nicholson presents his credentials as seasoned designer and is outraged that his judgment has been criticized.
But in the real world is such an outburst necessary or warranted?
Solve the Problem Joel Spolsky, founder of Fog Creek Software has this to say about customers:
“When customers have a problem and you fix it, they’re actually going to be even more satisfied than if they never had a problem in the first place.
“So when someone calls [us], and immediately gets through to a human, with no voice mail or phone menus, and that person turns out to be nice and friendly and actually solves their problem, they’re apt to think even more highly of us…”
Graphic Design Schools and Problem Solving Although an education at a graphic design college means necessary career training it also prepares you for problem solving. Clients come to you to solve a graphic design need or problem.
You can be prepared to solve these problems by utilizing all that you have learned in graphic design school to produce a unique visual and graphic solution.
Never forget that design knowledge is important but that action combined with this knowledge is wisdom and good business.
Next Time… Attention to detail, or a lack thereof, can make the difference between a great graphic design or something that draws unintentional smiles. Next time we meet we’ll go over the importance of looking out for the “small stuff” when creating your pieces.
Let’s Have Some Fun Designers, artists and those who work in the arts have a good sense of humor; it’s an essential trait to have when faced with constant deadlines, pressures, and the high expectations that goes along with these jobs.
Watch this video and see if you can identify. . ……………….. . Humor finds itself in everyday situations because it usually points out a truth that most people can relate to. Graphic design is no different and if you have been in this career field or one that relies on creativity you know how it “only hurts when I laugh.” . Changes for the Worse The video you viewed holds a lot of truth in that it presents many of the “requests” you may have heard from clients regarding projects you have been hired to do.
The project you are working on could be an advertisement, a poster or a logo but sometimes the suggestions for changes do not make the design better.
Your job, as a graphic designer, is to correlate all the information necessary from the client to produce a piece that meets specifications, is professional looking and informative.
The Client is Sometimes Wrong But in some cases the design guidelines from your client may not be the best graphic design. A common concern for some clients is too much “empty space” or lack of size. In the design world, negative space can help to enhance a design.
But in the client’s eyes it may mean not getting enough for his money. In cases where the customer wants more color, size, or other “eye catching” graphics you may need to point out what works and what doesn’t.
Graphic Design School and Proper Design Because virtually everyone has access to a computer some think that the job of design is an easy one. All you need to do is to get some clip art, use the comic sans font, some bright colors and you’re a designer!
Unfortunately bad design abounds in the world because of the misconception of “design is easy.” Everyone may have access to some sort of graphics program but this doesn’t mean they can automatically become David Carson.
Getting the proper education from a graphic design college is essential in understanding design concepts, art principles, and the numerous computer design software and hardware that are available today.
If you are interested in the field of graphic design there are online classes, graphic design schools and community colleges that provide the essential tools you’ll need to get your graphic design career going.
Next Time… In part two of Graphic Design: The Humorous Side of Things we’ll see a re-dubbed dialogue track of a well known movie that demonstrates what can happen when a graphic designer takes a stand against corporate mediocrity.
Been There, Done That, and Been There Again Sometimes a difficult customer can make you feel depressed, angry or both. But as they say, it’s all part of the package when you work for clients.
Tak Robinson, a lead graphic designer, shares his story of a difficult client.
“One of our customers used us because we were known for fast service. He had to pay a premium but grudgingly did so to meet his tight deadlines.
“Then he started to drop off his work after our studio was officially closed for business. He knew we had a night crew and demanded that his projects be ready by the next day.
“This really disrupted our night shift’s schedule in taking care of other rush jobs for the following morning. Our excellent night team was not happy.”
What did Tak do? The rest of the story is at the end of this article. (As usual certain circumstances and names have been changed to protect the innocent and guilty.)
Difficult Clients Most of the time, clients are reasonable. But there are always customers who stretch your patience to the max. . ………………. . As Jill the graphic designer indicated, you can’t really tell off a customer the way she did. But in rare cases where compromise or a mutual understanding isn’t working, it may be the better part of valor to diplomatically turn down the job.
Kristen Holden of SitePoint offers this advice:
“The easiest way to deal with problem clients is to not take them on board in the first place.
“Avoid feeling compelled to accept every piece of work you come across. Some clients are truly not worth the extra effort spent on managing them. Over time, you actually lose money.”
With that said make sure that you are doing the best you can to be professional and understanding in order to find a solution that will keep both you and your client relatively happy.
Graphic Design School and Customer Relations The first priority for going to a graphic design college is to get a strong education in design and art. The secondary purpose is to prepare you for career opportunities upon graduation.
How you relate to your fellow peers in graphic design school, how you handle the pressure of deadlines, and your ability to produce consistently good work under adverse circumstances helps you in providing good customer service.
Hard Decisions In a perfect world there should never be a circumstance where you need to turn down a client. But as we all know this isn’t a perfect world. Turning down a client must be done in a pragmatic and logical manner after all other avenues to work with the client have been closed.
In some cases a job may not be financially sound for your business. In extremely rare cases the client is unreasonable and unrealistic concerning expectations, deadlines or final costs.
Let’s find out the rest of the story concerning our graphic designer and the difficult client.
“His demands were becoming increasingly over the top for us and we had to make a decision to tell our night staff to charge him premium-rush-overtime to complete his work ahead of our other clients.
“The funny thing is he never complained about the extra charges. He started to drop off his work during the daytime again instead of at night. Eventually we figured out that he was always behind in his work and passed his hectic deadlines on to us.
“We wanted to drop him as a client but things worked themselves out for us. We think his company fired him because another graphic artist took his place.”
Next Time… We hope you’ve enjoyed this series about Graphic Designers vs. Clients. In the next few weeks we’ll take a look at the creative processes of graphic design and see how good ideas can sometimes backfire.
Been There and Done That Again? One graphic designer relates an experience dealing with a difficult (cheap) client.
“A client gave us assurances that when his business increased he would definitely compensate us properly for services rendered. We made a decision to do some work for him on spec and crossed our fingers that his word was good.
“We provided crucial content for his website and his business did increase, just as he predicted.
“We approached him for payment for our design work and he said he would devise a pay schedule for us in a week.”
What happened? See the conclusion of this story at the end of this article. (Names and certain circumstances have been changed to protect the innocent and the guilty.)
The Price Is Right/Wrong? If you’ve been in the design industry for any length of time you’ve probably heard many of the reasons why a client only has “a limited budget” for the project. But let’s turn this around a bit.
What if someone needed surgery and told the surgeon that he would pay the operation out of pocket but had only set aside a certain amount for the operation? Would the surgeon take the job?
View this video and see if anything sounds familiar to you: . ………………. . Be Prepared When you enter negotiations with a perspective client it takes a firm hand and some good insight regarding the character of the customer you are dealing with.
Ken Eikenberry, an organization/business consultant, gives some advice on client-vendor relationships.
“When we ask questions we understand situations better. Take the time, make the time to ask your client how she feels, what she thinks, and try to understand her observations regarding the progress of the project and your performance.”
If a client demands the moon but only wants to pay dirt cheap prices you may have to think twice about taking him on as a customer. Ask yourself this question “Is it worth the time, effort, and expense to keep this client happy?”
If the initial meetings are filled with talk of budget constraints on the client’s part rather than the creative aspect of the project, this may be a red flag indicating that there may be trouble ahead.
Graphic Design Schools and Client Relationships The task of meeting deadlines and presenting professional quality work is a must for successful designers.
Graphic design schools help to simulate these conditions through the projects you are assigned, how you relate with your teachers (clients), and the grading of your work.
Graphic design colleges not only provide the needed education to become a graphic designer, they help you to cope with the pressures of design deadlines and project expectations.
In God We Trust; All Others Pay Cash In the beginning of this article a graphic designer described a “cheap” client promising to pay for design services once his business was more successful. Here’s what happened.
“After several months of spec work and his business starting to take off we approached him to fulfill his promise to pay us. Since there was no written contract (our big mistake) he decided he didn’t want to pay us after all.
“We were devastated. It wasn’t the money owed as much as how we were so naïve in believing this customer. We should have followed our initial instincts to be more careful.
“Of course not all clients are crooks, but the event has made us more aware about getting everything in writing and being more careful when customers want things done for free or at cut-rate prices.”
Next Time… Rodney Dangerfield, an old school comedian, made the catch phrase “I don’t get no respect” a popular introduction line to his club routine.
Graphic designers sometimes feel like Rodney when dealing with clients. Next time we meet we’ll see what sorts of steps designers can take to boost morale. Here’s a hint: Use the word “no” more often.
Been There, Done That? A client hires a graphic designer to assemble specific images for a presentation at a large meeting. The contract states that designer will do up to 50 images. The deadline for the job is the following week. The contract is signed and sealed.
The client drops off all the materials the next day. To the graphic designer’s disbelief (and horror) there are over 200 images instead of the 50 that was agreed upon.
The graphic designer calls the customer up and says only 50 are allowed. The client says, “But I really need all of them. You’ve got to do this for me!”
What did the graphic designer do? The answer will be revealed at the end of this article. (Certain details have been changed to protect the innocent and the guilty.)
Contracts and Real Life If you are a graphic designer, web designer, illustrator, photographer or anyone who works and deals with customers, this video may bring a bit of déjà vu to you.
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Contracts are inevitably written and signed in order to specify what services are to be rendered by the vendor, what the price for the services will amount to, what the customer’s rights are, and a host of other details to protect both parties.
Theclient-vendor relationship is usually a give and take proposition. For cynics this means the vendor gives and the client takes and takes and takes and takes…
But an adversarial relationship doesn’t have to be the way you relate with your customers if you are willing to arrive at an amicable compromise during the initial process of hammering out the contract details.
Try to be a Diplomat Graphic design is really the “easy” part of the business. The hard part comes when some clients drive you crazy, are over demanding or try to low-ball your rates without understanding that you or your firm have to make a living, (remember the video?).
But these little bumps in the road are only reminders that you need to be as professional as you can in order to exercise your people skills. Or to put it another way, when lemons come along, squeeze some juice out of them.
Sometimes you’ll be successful, sometimes not, but it’s a given that good people skills can definitely help your business.
Graphic Design School and the Art of Customer Relations Graphic design colleges are essential for your career training, understanding design techniques, and improving your skill sets regarding the use of computers and graphics software.
But graphic design schools also get you ready for the real world by simulating project pressures and deadlines. The teachers may even play the role of difficult clients. You may grumble but you’ll be thankful for the experiences later.
So What Happened? In our story about the “surprise,” which the client gave the graphic designer…
“I was caught between the proverbial rock and hard place. I felt sucker punched by the sudden addition of the extra 150 images! But this was a new client, and although I knew the request was unreasonable, I decided to do the extra work and chalk it up to experience.
“I did the overtime but didn’t charge a dime extra to the client because I assumed that she would probably balk at the additional costs.
“Her presentation went smoothly and was a hit at her meeting. She showed up a week later at the office and gave me a big “thanks” of appreciation for the extra work I did. She also gave me an extra check to compensate me! I was surprised, to say the least.
“She shook my hand and left the office. She also referred me to other clients because of the ‘excellent service’ I provided.
“The client didn’t know how close I was to not doing the job for her. But in the end, it was a valuable lesson for me about ‘going the extra mile’.”
Next Time… In this article we’ve learned that doing things that are beyond what is expected of you can have a happy ending when dealing with clients.
But what other things can you do to maintain order when the “customer from hell” arrives through your office doors? We’ll hear some sound advice from those who have been there and done that in our next article.
Mistakes Anyone?
Graphic Design vs Opinion
Joel Spolsky, founder of 
Graphic Design Schools and Problem Solving
Changes for the Worse
Graphic Design School and Proper Design
Sometimes a difficult customer can make you feel depressed, angry or both. But as they say, it’s all part of the package when you work for clients.
Hard Decisions
